Cops cut short pees mission

Nagaraj had demanded 20,000 public urinals in city

Cops cut short pees mission

Oh no, you don't: Police restrain Vatal Nagaraj from urinating in front of the Raj Bhavanu00a0 Pic/KPN

Nagaraj had demanded 20,000 public urinals in city

As expected, Vatal Nagaraj stuck to his word and with a group of supporters, tried to carry out his urine struggle before the Raj Bhavan on New Year's Day.

But just as Vatal and 100 others had unzipped, the police arrested them and did not allow them to urinate at the spot.

MiD-DAY had reported about this unusual protest plans on November 26.

Vatal calls this the most unique protest, by which he hopes to attract the government's attention. "Nowhere in the world has such a protest been organised. There is nothing dirty in this and it is not a laughing matter either," he said.

Next move

Next Friday, Vatal and his followers will sleep outside the Raj Bhavan from 6 pm to 6 am.

Vatal calls this protest the "mutra chaluvali" (urine struggle). To discuss the future course of action, he has also formed a group called the "Mutra Sammelan," (Urine forum). "We had asked the government in November to at least pass an order to build public urinals before January 1. The government did nothing and so we were forced to go ahead with our challenge," he said.

Vatal has demanded that 20,000 public urinals be constructed in Bangalore, as also in the rest of the state. "In the rural areas, I want the government to build one toilet for every 500 women," he said.

Nowhere to go

Nagaraj said that he took up the issue looking at the plight of the people on the streets.

"Finding no place to relieve themselves, people pee on streets. It is not their fault. What can they do when there are no urinals at all? Think about the women. They can't do that also. Once they leave the house, the next urinal may be in their office. There are so many traffic jams in the city. What will a person in a car do?

There are one crore people in the city and very few urinals."

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